TOUGH LOSS TO START THE SEASON
Great Crowd – Not so the Result
It started out as a fantastic opening to the season for Southside Flyers to celebrate the WNBL Indigenous Round against cross-town rivals, the Melbourne Boomers.
A crowd of 3,108, a wonderful pre-game ceremony, featuring the Koorie Basketball Academy guard of honour to welcome the Flyers onto the court, the Welcome to Country by Auntie Julie, a didgeridoo performance by Mathew Weegberg, and the National Anthem in native language, performed by Breanne Lee.
The scene was set and when the Flyers jumped out to a 9-0 start after three and a half minutes, it was looking like the perfect start to the new season. Most of the crowd were still on their feet, the Boomers called a time-out (Flyers fans stay on their feed until the opposition score their first points), to try to settle. It obviously worked as by the end of the first quarter the Flyers led by just 2-points, 18-16.
Unfortunately for the Flyers, the second quarter had a similar pattern. After five minutes the Boomers led by two, 28-26 and they then went on a 12-0 run to go into the half with a 14 point lead, 26-40.
Early in the third quarter, the Flyers were down by 20 and the crowd had certainly gone quiet. Thankfully, led by Bec Cole and Mercedes Russell, the Flyers began to find their spark, and they began to fight their way back into the contest.
Still down by nine at the end of the third quarter, the crowd sensed a big comeback, and it did seem like the Flyers may enjoy a miraculous come from behind victory, getting to within 3-points on the back of a Bec Cole three with less than four minutes to go. In the end it wasn’t to be, with the Boomers getting the calls when it counted, to win the game by seven, 70-77.
Not the start the Flyers wanted but it is straight onto game two in Canberra on Wednesday night.
Flyers next home game is on Wednesday November 22 against Perth Lynx at the State Basketball Centre.
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